Star chef, grill give Betty new oomph

The location and decor hasn't really changed, what was once Betty's Kitschen is now called St Betty. However, what has changed is that a two-Michelin-star Australian chef, Shane Osborn, now oversees the kitchen at the Hong Kong establishment of Alan Yau, best-known for UK's Wagamama food chain. Chef Osborn has introduced a menu that illustrates his global culinary knowledge and an interest in using Asian ingredients.

A section on the menu isdevoted to items from the Josper grill, which my fellow diners and I were not familiar with. St Betty is apparently the first Hong Kong restaurant to introduce the Josper Grill to its kitchen arsenal.

It is probably best described as an indoor barbecue in which, we were told, none of the natural moisture or flavor is lost during cooking.

One of the recommended starters, the 21st-century egg, would be served with asparagus cooked on the Josper grill, so I was looking forward to trying it.

The dish is a poached egg coated in crispy breadcrumbs sitting on a bed of crumbled, preserved century egg white served with char-grilled asparagus, lemon mayonnaise, black truffle and hazelnut dressing.

My initial reaction was that it would taste like a Scotch egg - not that I don't like Scotch eggs, but this elevated the simple, breaded, sans-pork egg to a new level.

The slightly smoky and tender asparagus was delicious with the creamy and tangy mayonnaise and complemented the crispy and slightly runny egg.

All the flavors and textures blended well with the jellylike century egg white. This starter was quite filling, so pairing it with a lighter main dish is recommended.

Being a big carb fan, I ordered the sauteed spatzle with wild mushrooms, fresh black truffle and Taleggio cheese, which can be served as a main or a smaller portion as a starter.

This is rich and earthy, and also quite a filling dish. I ordered the sizable starter size portion and would definitely not have been able to eat a full portion. It's definitely comfort food that may cause the diner to go into a pleasant food coma afterward.

The Sagabuta pork loin with local beetroots, onion and morteau sausage fondue, sage and shallot jus should be served with the meat cooked until pink and juicy.

I made the mistake of ordering the meat a little more cooked, and so it was a bit drier than I would have liked. (Order it cooked medium as the chef recommends.) I was intrigued by the fondue, which turned out to be a puree on the plate and not a warm pot of the mix for dipping.

For dessert, we sampled the passion fruit souffle, butterscotch ice cream with caramel; the dark chocolate cream, chocolate crumbs, salted peanut ice cream and fresh cherries; and the lemon-leaf ice cream with Japanese winter strawberries, roselle and toasted meringue.

The presentation of the souffle was the most impressive - sliced so the warm caramel sauce poured into the center.

However, the dessert that was most interesting was the lemon-leaf ice cream. This dessert was fresh, light and included a variety of textures. The toasted meringue gave it just the right touch of crunch with the creamy coolness of the citrus ice cream.

St Betty is centrally located in the IFC Mall and overlooks Victoria Harbor, with service that is attentive and very knowledgeable.